


A Phone Call In The Night

by Velvedere



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hawkeye's Terrible Life, i really should stop this whole humor thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-17
Updated: 2013-10-17
Packaged: 2017-12-29 16:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1007749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velvedere/pseuds/Velvedere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agent Coulson calls Clint Barton in the middle of the night with an important mission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Phone Call In The Night

Clint Barton woke up to the sound of his phone ringing.

Not his regular phone. His _phone_. The one only the Avengers and certain members of SHIELD were able to contact.

He didn’t remember setting an alarm, so it was probably important.

He groaned, rolled over, and groped for the source of the admittedly muted beeping on the night stand beside his bed.

He dropped it twice before he managed to answer it, upside down.

“Yeah?” Groggy. Voice dry.

What time was it, anyway?

“I have a mission for you,” came Coulson’s voice over the secure line.

“Okay.” Clint blinked sleep from his eyes and squinted at the overly bright LED screen to find the clock.

Just after three.

“What is it?”

“Take out a sniper.”

Clint rolled onto his back on the bed, wincing as he found an arrow with his shoulderblade. He dug one hand under the covers until he could yank it out, then tossed it to the floor with the rest.

“Thought we didn’t do assassinations,” he grumbled.

“This one is something special.”

Clint grunted as he sat up. He cradled the phone between his shoulder and ear and swung his feet over the side to pull on his boots.

“Who is it?” he asked, tugging at clips and laces.

“Code name: Leap Frog Two.”

“What happened to Leap Frog One?”

“Specialized sniper,” Coulson said with the sound of reading from a dossier. Clint could hear computers keys being typed. “Efficient. Wealthy. Based out of Anaheim, California.”

“What’d they do?”

Silence for a moment.

“Sir?” Clint prompted.

Coulson was quiet a moment longer. The sound of keys had stopped.

“Man or woman?” Clint tried again.

“Unknown,” said Coulson.

That made Clint frown. SHIELD usually knew everything.

There was another pause, then the sound of two fists slamming into what was presumably a keyboard.

A slew of profanity flew from Coulson’s mouth that left Clint sitting stunned in the dark of his apartment.

He’d never heard Coulson swear before.

Or lose his cool at all, for that matter.

Clint had a brief flashback to his introductory days when several SHIELD agents referred to him as “Coolson” behind his back.

“Sir?” he prompted again, when there was only the sound of heavy breathing.

“He got me again,” Coulson whispered. Then, firmer: “I want Leap Frog taken out, Agent Barton. This problem _has_ to go away.”

Clint could imagine a little too perfectly the tight look in Coulson’s face. The gritted teeth he spoke through.

“Sir.” Clint stopped trying to tie his boots. “Are you on Ebay?”

Another moment of silence sounded like guilt.

“This is important,” Coulson finally managed, more composed.

“Which card did you miss out on this time?”

“The forty year limited release special edition.” Another pause. “I had the winning bid. Leap Frog got me at two seconds.”

The twinge in his voice lifted a note of sympathy in Clint’s heart. It really did.

But it was also three in the morning.

“I’m going back to bed, sir.”

“This is important, Agent.”

“Goodnight, sir.”

“This is the third time it’s happened!”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Don’t hang up—!”

Clint closed the phone and tossed it onto the night stand. Then he slumped face first back into the pillows, his boots still half on.


End file.
